26 Jun, 2012

Is “Dating-For-Dollars” the New Summer Job Among College Students?

Posted by Stacy

Is this the new way to supplement your unpaid internship?

The world’s largest “Bid for First Dates” website, WhatsYourPrice.Com, recently conducted a survey and found a growing trend in female college students using the site to help pay for their tuition & student loans. Over 20,000 new college students have signed up since May, and the demographic already accounts for approximately 35% of the website’s 400,000+ members

Interestingly enough, the Associated Press (among other news outlets) just released an article on how this will be the third summer in a row where job rates are drastically declining.

Could this current dating trend be an alternative solution to such hard economic times? Is it ethical? Or is it innocently summer love with the benefits of a summer job?

Summer is here and college students are once again hunting for summer jobs. Unfortunately, as news reports these past weeks have shown, this is the third summer in a row where jobs are scarce and college students have to compete with graduates forced into low-paying positions due to the unemployment crisis.

Some single college students have taken matters into their own hands by turning their summer loneliness into a full-time summer job. According to WhatsYourPrice.com, the world’s first and only dating auction website, the number of college students registering to date-for-dollars has tripled in the past two months.

“In the past two months, over 20,000 college students in the U.S. have signed up for an account on WhatsYourPrice.com where they are paid to go on first dates,” says Brandon Wade, the website’s founder & CEO. “Most college students are single and many actively date during the summer. Our website provides a way for them to monetize their romantic pursuits.”

He can’t be serious…”monetize your romantic pursuits.”

I guess it sounds better than “paid escort.”

On WhatsYourPrice.com, college students make up approximately 35% of the website’s 400,000 members. College students receive a free premium membership upgrade when they register with their dot-EDU email addresses. According to the website, college members go on an average of 5.4 first dates a week and receives an average of $121.00 for each date.

Using the dot-EDU email addresses collected via the website, WhatsYourPrice.com has published the Top 25 Dating-For-Dollar Universities:

1.) Georgia State University

2.) Kent State University

3.) New York University

4.) Temple University

5.) University of Central Florida

6.) Florida International University

7.) University of Southern Florida

8.) Arizona State University

9.) University of California, Los Angeles

10.) University of Georgia

11.) University of Houston

12.) Indiana University

13.) University of Southern California

14.) University of Delaware

15.) Texas State University

16.) California State University

17.) University of Buffalo

18.) Virginia Commonwealth University

19.) Tulane University

20.) University of California, Davis

21.) University of Hawaii

22.) University of Nevada, Las Vegas

23.) Michigan State University

24.) University of Florida

25.) University of Alabama

“In this economy, many college students struggle to find summer jobs. Those who are fortunate enough to land a minimum-wage job struggle to find work-life balance,” says Wade, who holds a BS and MBA from MIT. “WhatsYourPrice.com provides single college students the best of both worlds. They get paid for their time and they get to enjoy their summer at other peoples’ expenses.”

WhatsYourPrice.Com is the world’s premiere dating auction website where over 400,000 members buy-and-sell first dates. Launched in March 2011 by Brandon Wade, the site incentivizes the opportunities for first dates, as well as eliminates the superficial standards created by traditional online dating. Wade, an MIT graduate, envisioned a dating community where sincerity is measured by the generosity of the members, thus “leveling the playing field” and enabling any user to date an attractive member.